Pagosa Springs Colorado
A Touching Moment on the Snow Trail
by Norm Vance
Sunday I groomed the snow on Lobo Overlook Trail, top of Wolf
Creek Pass at 10,875' and then up to 12,000'+ elevation via snow
machine. It was a clear sparkling day and warmish. I had made
several trips up and down mashing three feet of new snow into
a flat trail. There is currently about 12 feet of snow that the
trail is on top of! I was in the parking area about to put the
machine on the trailer when three SUVs pulled in with license
plates from Louisiana. One pulled close to me and the window went
down. A silver haired lady started asking questions about snow
recreation as kids to adults jumped out of the vehicles and rolled
in the snow. (Continued below)
Turned out she was the mother and grandmother of the pack; they
had never seen real snow, and granny was giving them all a vacation
to remember. Granny said she had read about the Continental Divide
and had always wanted to go to the top of the divide. I said,
"Oh, this isn't the top, the top is up there," pointing
to the mountain peak. “Does granny want to go up?"
She looked at me and then looked at the machine and started bouncing
in the car seat! She parked and with help from her sons climbed
the 12 feet up to the trail level. She made sure the grandkids
were watching and photos taken as granny disappeared into the
forest behind a crazy man on a snow machine.
The ride is most beautiful with vistas both east and west and
long shaded-dark distances under the canopy of the blue spruce
forest. Near the top you rise above tree line and onto a bald
peak on a good twenty feet of snow. When on top she marveled
at the scene. You can see over a hundred miles looking out over
the snow-covered peaks of the San Juan Range. I took a couple
photos of her, using her camera. She shared with me that she is
very ill with Leukemia and that while she still can and before
she goes, she wanted her kids and grandkids to see granny alive
and having fun and adventure. I shared with her that I was recovering
from cancer and surgery myself and we had a short moment of bonding
that only people who have had a life threatening condition can
understand. A handshake, a hug, and a couple of tears was touching.
She pulled back, looked around and through tears and searching
for words said, "This is the most beautiful church I have
ever seen. If heaven is any better than this, I'm ready to go.
Just give me a few more days with the kids."
In twelve years of grooming snow trials I have had some moments
out there, but this one is at the very top.
Post Script:
I was so touched by this encounter I wrote the account above.
I sent it out to all of my friend's addresses over the Internet
wanting to remind folks what a spectacular environment we live
in. My sister, Sharon Tennison, was included on the Internet
list.
Sharon is founder and president of the Center
for Citizen's Initiatives. CCI is a twenty-year-old, San Francisco
based organization that aids Russian people. The purpose of CCI
is to connect Russian businessmen with American businessmen to
teach principles of capitalism. They also took Alcoholics Anonymous
to the Russian people and other like efforts.
Sharon forwarded the story to over a thousand addresses worldwide
on her organization's e-mail list and I began receiving many heartwarming
replies. By the third day, the e-mail was so overloaded it stopped
working, allowing no messages in or out. I spent most of the day
deleting pages of messages and trying to repair the e-mail site.
Ultimately the event seized the computer completely with foreign
language cookies and other such mysterious computer oddities.
Many replies included addresses from important sounding locations
such as Washington DC, Moscow and across Euro-Russia.
That this lady would choose to visit the Continental Divide so
as to leave her family a legacy of love and inspiration is truly
wonderful. I was pleased to help in making her wish come true.
Little does Granny know that her story inspired people around
the world.
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